Nelson Walker Made Documentary 'Summer Pasture' In Tibet'

Nelson Walker III, a 1996 graduate of E.O. Smith High School in Mansfield, is the winner of a Peabody Award for a documentary he made about a family in Tibet.

The Peabodys, now in their 72nd year, are one of the world's most prestigious awards for electronic media, recognizing achievement by broadcasters, cable and webcasters and film producers. Award winners were announced March 27.

Also winning a Peabody this year is West Hartford-based WVIT-TV for "Breaking News: Tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School."

Walker's documentary, "Summer Pasture," which was shown on PBS "Independent Lens" on May 10, 2012, is about a young nomadic couple and how they deal with difficulties in the natural world, oppression by the Chinese government, and what to do about their baby daughter's future.

Walker is in Kinshasa, Congo, teaching at a film school. Several years ago in Congo, Walker made a film, "Lumo," which won a student Academy Award in 2007. That film is about a Congolese woman and her recovery from a violent rape.

Walker made "Summer Pasture" with Lynn True, his producing partner and fiancee, and Tibetan filmmaker Tsering Perlo. He made "Lumo" with True, Bent-Jorgen Perlmutt and Louis Abelman.

In an email interview from Kinshasa, Walker said he had to be careful about what he included in the film.

"Here in the U.S., we often take it for granted that we can say whatever we want, whenever we want. But in Tibet, the rules are different. Openly challenging China's authority carries severe punishments, especially for those Tibetans who speak out," Walker wrote in the email. "In making 'Summer Pasture,' we knew we had a rare and delicate opportunity. Our goal was to create an honest and intimate portrait of nomad life, free from romanticism or political rhetoric. ... In the film, we don't shy away from Locho and Yama's problems, but we also don't label them, and prefer to leave the interpretation up to the viewer."

Walker went to Wesleyan University in Middletown for one year and then transferred to Brown University. The filmmaker got his master's in the Columbia University film school, where he roomed with Phil Maysles, the son of legendary documentarian Albert Maysles ("Gimme Shelter," "Grey Gardens"). He currently works with the Maysles Institute.

"When I was young I really wanted to be like my father, and become a doctor, but I also always loved watching and making movies," Walker wrote in the email. "The first film I made was a fake surgical instruction video, in which I cast one of my brothers as a medical assistant and the other as the unlucky patient."

Walker's father is a Mansfield family doctor whose name is also Nelson Walker.

"In the end, what has drawn me to documentary is really the same thing that interested me in medicine," Walker wrote. "I like to meet new people from all walks of life, to get to know them, and try to better understand where they're coming from."

Walker has made documentaries for Discovery Channel, History Channel and PBS's NOVA. His directorial debut, "iThemba|Hope," a documentary about an HIV-positive choir from South Africa, was shown on Sundance Channel in 2005.

In addition to their filmmaking, Walker and True are co-founders of the Kham Film Project, a consortium of American and Tibetan filmmakers getting together to make movies. They also are co-programmers of two film series, "Congo in Harlem" and "Tibet in Harlem," which are based at the Maysles Cinema in Harlem.

Nelson is the oldest of three brothers. His brother Nathan lives in Detroit and works in education. His youngest brother Tim lives in Houston, where is studying for his Ph.D. in public health.

His mother Joanne, who was interim associate dean in the School of Education and Professional Studies at Central Connecticut State University in New Britain, died six years ago of brain cancer.